Tag Archives: synthetic marijuana

New regulations will help crack down on the rapidly expanding synthetic drug industry, the governor announced on Tuesday.

“The actions we are announcing today attack the problem by helping our law enforcement officers enforce the rules, expanding the list of banned substances used to manufacture bath salts and imposing tougher penalties so those who sell these drugs are held accountable,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

The state’s Department of Health expanded its list of prohibited drugs and chemicals to include dozens of more substances used to make synthetic drugs. Penalties were also stiffened allowing store owner selling the substances to be charged with possession of an illicit substance and face time behind bars.

Distributors of the drug were skirting laws by tweaking the drug’s ingredients to avoid substances banned by the state’s controlled substances laws.

These “designer drugs” include bath salts and synthetic marijuana sold under names such as White Lightning, Tranquility, Zoom and Blaze.

In June and July, there were 120 emergency room visits as a result of bath salts after just 39 all of 2011, the governor said. More than 300 calls were made to the state’s Poison Control Center in the year’s first six months after only 20 in 2010, the center said.

A hot line was also set up for residents to report establishments selling the illegal substances.

Stiffer federal laws were put into place recently, but the governor said local law enforcement officials for will be able to pursue perpetrators under state laws for the first time.

As the New York Mets prepare for another baseball season, lawyers for the team’s owners are prepping for something that can hardly be called a game. A nine-person jury will soon be charged with deciding whether the owners and their affiliates owe up to another $303 million to the trustee overseeing Bernard Madoff’s former firm. The trustee claims Fred Wilpon and others intentionally ignored red flags about Madoff’s scheme, a claim lawyers for the team’s owners reject. Read More: NY1

Grieving kin hurt in funeral smashup

A limousine carrying mourners during a funeral procession in Queens plowed into a bodega after getting cut off by a minivan yesterday — injuring 16 people, including the deceased’s daughter and granddaughter. The motorcade was headed to Pinelawn Cemetery on Long Island around 11:30 a.m. to bury 94-year-old Delores Godfrey when the minivan clipped the back of a Ford Expedition and struck the limo on Guy R. Brewer Boulevard. Read More: New York Post

Queens Lawmakers Push For “Synthetic Marijuana” Ban

City Councilman Ruben Wills and other southeast Queens elected officials are pushing for a ban on a type of incense that they say kids smoke and call “synthetic marijuana.” Read More: NY1

Whitney Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina, wants to change name

Whitney Houston’s daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown plans to change her name to lose her link to her father, Bobby Brown, TMZ reported. The 19 year old, who will inherit her late mom’s entire estate while her dad will receive nothing, told friends she will become “Kristina Houston.” Read More: New York Post

Staten Island woman dies after getting trapped in clothing drop box

A Staten Island woman who climbed into a clothing drop box suffocated and died inside after the box’s metal door closed on her head and trapped her yesterday, cops said. Melissa Mazzeo, 51, crawled into the large metal box in Sunnyside at about noon — in an apparent attempt to steal the donated clothing. Mazzeo was caught in the box’s opening when the door swung shut on her head as she tried to climb out, cops said. Read More: New York Post

Jamaica money pit

Another day, another taxpayer boondoggle in Jamaica. Two years after it opened as an “incubator” for small businesses, the $2.5 million Jamaica Export Centre — built with mostly taxpayer cash — is virtually deserted. The dusty reception desk, which was supposed to serve up to eight businesses, is unoccupied. Downstairs, a meeting room is empty, and a sign out front says it is available for baby showers and birthday parties. Read More: New York Post